Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Bobble head jesus - Dan Rodgerson

This is one of the sweetest dashboards ever. two fans, disco lights, lcd player, radio, clock

I am so getting one of these

mountains outside la esperanza

Bobble head JesusWoke the next morning and headed toward the bus around 7. As I was asking a local were the bus station was, I heard a voice in perfect English “where are you going” It was actually refreshing. Jessica was a peace core volunteer nearing the end of her two year commitment. I noticed two things. She spoke very well in Spanish and she had bad teeth. We found the bus stop and realized it was Saturday and the bus did not leave for another hour and a half. Nothing was open, did not want to wait. Told here I was heading to the edge of town to try and catch a ride. She joined me.

Second car picked us up. Great guy with three sons who are doctors. (well one is still in his residency) It was perfect. Jessica found out the guy was actually heading to Tegucigalpa, would have been a four hour bus ride and she scored. Mine was just an hour where they dropped me at the turn off to la esperanza. That is where I got on the Jesus bus. I climbed aboard and there were about 6 pictures of Jesus. On the windshield was printed “Jesus is love” On the receipt was printed, we work in the name of Jesus. On the radio was Christian rock. On the dashboard…..you guessed it. A bobble head jesus.

I admit this next part is really stupid and considered not showing my stupidity, but it is a real life travel blog. Got into town, walked through a market. Although this was the highest town in the country it was hot and my bag was heavy. I asked a lady in a small bread store to watch my bag. That was not the stupid part. I made two mental notes. It was in front of an open air market and there was construction. I wandered. I am the only eagle scout who can get lost going around the block with a map and a compass. After a nice lunch and an hour of discovering the town I went back for my bag. Where was that store? Apparently the entire town was under construction and there were four open air markets that all looked the same. Panic began to set in. My guide book, passport, everything was inside.

I raced frantically though the streets like a mother who has lost her child at the mall. It all looked familiar but I could not find the store. I got a cab and told him my story. Once again, my drama became his mission. We re-traced steps from there the bus dropped me off, after a few minutes I was reunited with my pack. Not sure if I mentioned it before but I love my pack.Feeling stupid I made my way back to the bus, put my pack on top and sat down waiting for the bus to leave. I asked the lady sitting next to me when it was going to leave. “an hour and a half” Grabbed my pack and headed to the edge of town. Thumb out, first car. Nice guy. An hour and a half later arrived in a small town called San Juan. Same dance, bus was not for an hours, thumb out and got a ride in the back of a pick-up but he was only going half way. Got another ride and made it to the small town of Gracias. Thought about staying but it seemed kinda stale and I really wanted to explore some ruins before I left. Took another bus another hour and a half to Santa Rosa de Copan.

I have been slowly throwing things away out of my bag to make room for things to bring home. With only a day and a half left, need to start grabbing them.